Matzo: A staple of the Passover table

Matzo is a staple of the Passover table. It accompanies the other foods that create a symbolic dinner to mark the season for Jewish families. The restrictions placed on the preparation of Jewish foods during Passover are a reminder of the strife the Israelites suffered as they left Egypt.

Matzo is unleavened bread, and its significance reaches back thousands of years. According to myjewishlearning.com, a website dedicated to Jewish traditions, including food, unleavened bread was one of the foods the Jews in Egypt were commanded to eat along with paschal lamb (Exodus 12:8).

In commemoration of that first seder meal, and the haste in which the Israelites left Egypt — giving them no time to allow their bread to rise — families eat matzo at the seder, and instead of bread throughout the holiday.

The site explains that it is customary to have three pieces of matzo stacked on the seder table. “Two are traditional for Sabbath and festivals as a reminder of the double portion of manna, or food from heaven, the Israelites gathered before every day of rest in the desert (Exodus 16:11-22). The third is needed on Passover to break at the beginning of the seder.”

Also according to myjewishlearning.com, the number three is also said to have symbolic significance. Among other things, the number represents the three measures of fine meal from which Sarah baked cakes for her husband Abraham’s three angelic visitors (Genesis 18:6), the three categories of Jews — Kohen, Levi, and Yisrael — that make up the Jewish people, or the three patriarchs — Abraham, Isaac and Jacob — by whose merit the Jewish people were redeemed from Egypt and whose covenant with God they were redeemed to fulfill.

In recent years, it has become popular to add an additional sheet of matzo, representing hope for Jews still enslaved by oppression around the world.

Making homemade matzo is a process that is often a pre-Passover activity. According to myjewishlearning.com, making matzo is rewarding, but labor intensive.

“The project needs to be undertaken by a group with access to a large work area and a professional oven,” the website states. Cooks will need a matzo-perforating machine, which resembles a rolling pin with spikes; sandpaper (to clean the dough’s kneading surfaces), regular rolling pins, a kneading tub for the dough, smooth working surfaces, a baker’s oven, cold water, special Passover flour or whole grain wheat, long wooden poles, and six or more people.

The flour must be absolutely dry and stored in a cool, dark place. The flour itself can be found at at kosher bakery in New York, or it can be milled at home.

Kneading, and not allowing the dough to rise, is an important step in the creation of matzo, and no flour can be sprinkled on the kneading board.

The actual baking time is only

2 to 3 minutes, and by using a professional baking oven, the required temperature of 600 to

800 degrees makes baking time very fast.

Following the strict rules of the kosher kitchen is imperative, and it’s easy to see why there are plenty of products on the market that eliminate the need to make your own.

Matzo balls

Matzo meal is another staple of Jewish cooking. Gentiles (non-Jews) know that matzo flour is used to make matzo balls, the tasty main ingredient in Jewish chicken soup.

Recipes vary widely on how to make these succulent little meatless globes of ground matzo crackers. The simplest recipes call for the cook to grind the matzo into a rough meal, but matzo can also be purchased as a fine grind for cooking.

Making them is easy: Add the matzo meal to 2 eggs and a tablespoon of cooking oil; add parsley, dill, salt and pepper. After chilling the dough for 30 minutes, roll into 1-inch balls. Boil the matzah balls in water for 20 minutes and then add them to chicken soup.

Recipes vary from family to family, but most matzo ball soups call for shredded chicken, carrots, parsnips and chicken broth.

These days, matzo ball mixes and soups are easily available at the grocery store. All Jewish foods purchased in a store have a kosher seal, ensuring families that they are following the rules of the religious observance.